Dr. Bagrat Tayiryan

Dr. Bagrat Tayiryan, a retired physician and health care administrator from Armenia, died on the evening of August 1st, 2015 in Hope, BC, surrounded by his family. He was 61 years old.

Born on November 12, 1953, he was the 4th child in the family. His mother had to leave her studies at medical school during the 2nd World War to care for her husband’s large family and for her young children, while her husband and every man in the family were fighting Nazi Germany with the Soviet Army. She dreamed for her son to become a physician, to accomplish what she had dreamed but had been unable to do - and he did not disappoint. Graduating from high school with honours, he went off to finish medical school in 1979 and specialized in internal medicine.

In 1974 he married his high school sweetheart and his wife of 40 years, Karine Sargsyan. Karine was a student working towards her engineering degree when they married. After graduating from their higher education institutions in Yerevan, they left the comfort of the big city and moved their young family with 2 toddlers to Lori Marz, a remote northern region of the country where Bagrat was put in charge of building a small hospital from scratch. He worked tirelessly and enthusiastically and earned the heart of the small community he called his new home. For over a decade he raised his family in this beautiful, pristine, Alpine landscape. He built a small cottage, almost all by himself, and would take his family there on the weekends, hanging swings and hammocks for his kids, hunting and sharing the joy of life with his friends and family. His family would hardly ever sit down for dinner without having guests at the table. His clinic, serving half a dozen villages (some of them so remote he had to ride his horse to make house calls in the middle of night and the rainy season when someone was in labor or had suffered an accident in mines) became a desired rural medicine location among medical students, who heard about the young doctor that was not afraid to confront any challenge to care for his people, who was funny and loved hosting visitors from the city.

Soon he was recognized for his leadership and promoted to the regional level to lead a large central hospital (1986) and later became the CEO of the regional health authority (over 1500 hospital beds combined) in 1992. During the turbulent times of economic breakdown of the Soviet Union and war in the 1990s, Dr. Tayiryan served his community selflessly, both as a physician and as a soldier when needed, spent countless nights defending his country and providing medical care on the battleground. Recognized for his experience in military medical services he was offered a senior position at the national military medical committee as a physician expert and advisor. He worked in this position ensuring high quality care is provided to military men and their families for 12 years, until he retired in 2009 and joined his daughter’s family in British Columbia with his wife. His devotion and love for his family, and especially for his 2 children and 3 grandchildren, was beyond imaginable; he left his home country to be close to them. No matter how hard the transition to a new country was in his age – new language, new customs, new people – with his charming personality he was quick to socialize with neighbours and make new friends. “Everyone speaks the language of hospitality, kindness and love” he used to say when trying hard to communicate with his neighbours from UK, St. Lucia or with the locals. He truly enjoyed the diversity in his neighbourhood and was trying hard to share his culture and heritage with everyone. No one would “escape” his house without sharing a food and drink with him. It is no wonder that the friends visiting him at the hospital would bring his favourite vodka and wish him quick recovery to party again.

He enjoyed reading historical texts and loved animals, especially dogs and horses. His last dog was a German Shepherd named Caesar, who died a few months before his passing.

His family is very grateful to his caring medical team; Dr. Andrew Enivary for gently telling the family about the sad news of his cancer diagnosis and always being available to speak with them, Dr. Cheryl Ho for being his most trusted oncologist at BCCA, Drs. Christie, Bull and Greggain at the FCH for their supportive care in the last 2 weeks of Bagrat’s life, home health nurses, especially Linda Yarewood, and every single member of the caring personnel at the Fraser Canyon Hospital. Special thanks to the Hope Hospice Society and to the volunteers for creating the most comfortable environment for his family’s presence at the facility.

Dr. Bargrat Tayiran is survived by a loving family: his wife Karine, daughter Kate and her husband Vahe, his son Smbat and his wife Kristine, three grandchildren Bagrat, Mary and Karina, 2 sisters, 1 nephew and 2 nieces.

The service will be held on August 6, at 7 pm, at the Martin Brothers Chapel of Hope Funeral Home (1270 Ryder Street, Hope, BC V0X 1L4), and the burial will be at the Mountainview Cemetery on 65683 Kawkawa Lake Road at 11am, Friday, August 7.

Should you wish, in lieu of flowers, you could send your donations to www.NextGenU.org (a global initiative to improve the education and training of health workers that my Father was very supportive of; click "donate" on the top of the page); BC Cancer Agency; Fraser Canyon Hospice Society or any health charity of your choice.